Various types of shower door are known, which include sliding shower doors, bi-fold shower doors, hinged shower doors and pivot shower doors. A shower door may be used with a shower tray or in a wet room, and typically extends from the floor upwards. Although different sizes of shower door are available, they are usually classed as either full-height (for example in the range 1850 mm-1950 mm), which may be used in an installation in a standard bathroom, reduced height (for example 1750 mm), which may be used in an installation in a loft or cellar, or half-height (for example 750 mm-900 mm), which may be used in an installation for a person with reduced mobility for example.
A known type of installation for a person with reduced mobility includes a half-height hinged shower door with a seal element at the bottom that contacts the shower area floor to prevent leakage when the shower is in use. Contact between the seal element and the shower area floor can prevent the shower door from pivoting freely. Friction arising from contact between the seal element and the shower area floor can cause resistance to rotation, inhibit smooth opening and closing of the shower door, and cause the seal element to be dragged along the shower area floor as the shower door is swung open and closed. Consequently, easy operation of the shower door is impeded and the seal element can become damaged leading to unwanted seepage or leakage of water from underneath the shower door to the outside of the shower area. Thus, contact between the shower door and the shower area floor during rotation of the shower door makes the shower door difficult to move and impairs the reliability and working life of the seal element.
A first known proposed solution involves the use of a rising butt hinge as the lower pivot hinge of the half-height shower door, which is arranged such that the shower door rises upwards as it is opened. However, with this arrangement, the seal element is brought into contact with the shower area floor before the shower door is fully closed and is not lifted clear of the shower area floor until the shower door has been partly opened. This issue is more prominent when a compressible bottom seal element is used on the shower door. As the shower door is brought into the fully closed position, the compressible seal element is squashed against the shower area floor, resulting in resistance to rotation of the shower door. Further, rise gained during opening of the shower door is not directly translated to lift of the lower edge of the compressible seal element above the shower area floor until the seal element has returned to its uncompressed state. Thus, this first proposed solution does not fully address the problem of contact between the bottom seal element of the shower door and the shower area floor during opening and closing of the shower door.
A second known proposed solution utilises a lever-activated gas strut, which is arranged to lift the half-height shower door upon manual operation of the lever. In the arrangement of this second proposed solution, the shower door is subsequently lowered by pushing the shower door vertically back down, to a position at which the shower door is then held in the lowered position until the lever is again operated. However, the required pushing action to lower the shower door is difficult for some users of impaired mobility, in particular for users who are in a seated position when applying a downward force onto the shower door such as those using a wheelchair.
It is therefore desirable for the seal element to be clear of the shower area floor before the shower door is rotated, and for the shower door to be easy for persons with reduced mobility to open and close.